Hopping off the bus fresh from Fiesole, tummies bursting, Sarah and I jogged to the train station. It was 3:30 and we hoped to catch the 4:15 train to Milan. Santa Maria Novella was a zoo. The lines to comprato bigligetti were outrageously long and not moving. I weaved my way to the self-purchase kiosk only to find that the kiosks were down (at least for tickets to Milan) and I had to wait in a line. After 45 minutes of waiting, Sarah and I found out that our train was full. And so were all the other departing trains until 6:15 pm. Well Drat! Sarah and I paid 30 Euro for our one way tickets to Milan on the intercity 6:15 train rather than the 4:15, 5:15, or 6:15 EuroStar trains. Mistakenly, we got on the ES train at first, only to find it packed – not a seat to be seen. That made our less luxurious train look like Heaven. We thoroughly enjoyed being 2/6 people in the large car.
We arrived in Milan at 10:00 pm and were met by Rudin and Andrea – Rudin Sarah had known through family friends and Andrea was one of his good guy friends. We stopped at a well known Milan late-night bakery for a bite and then met up with Rudin’s friends at the Milan movie festival (entertainment for Milanese during the famed fashion week). Around one we left for Rudin’s home – a spacious apartment on the outskirts of the center of Milan. His parent’s awaited our arrival and showed us to our room – complete with our own bathroom (with the most heavenly water pressure I’ve ever been so privileged to experience)! We plopped into the bed and luxuriously slept until 9 when we were surprised with a table full of Italian breakfast foods. Now you Southerners – Italian breakfast food is not bacon, eggs, ham, cereal, pancakes, sausage, grits, biscuits and gravy. Italian breakfast food is cookies, toast, jam, chocolates, yogurt, tea, juices, and croissants (with filling!). It was great!
Rudin and his dad planned a fabulous day for us. Rudin drove us to a small town outside of Milan proper with lovely churches, old buildings, and universities. Pavia was the first small town in Italy that we have been to that was not crawling with tourists. We enjoyed drinking fruity juices in a Pavian square overlooking a beautiful church and walked all over, drinking in the sights. We returned to Rudin’s home for a 6pm lunch, eating our fill, only to find out that we were meeting Bianca (a friend of Sarah and Rudin’s) for dinner at one of Italy’s renowned restaurants. I would describe it here, but I am planning a food review – coming soon!
Two dinners later, with protruding bellies, we sat by the channel (the local hot spot for Milanese in their 20’s) and enjoyed talking with our new friends.
Sunday morning, we awoke to yet another breakfast – sweet on our tongues, and we hit the usual tourist destinations in Milan – the street of designers, the Duomo, and numerous churches. Rudin and his dad were a veritable treasure trove of information pertaining to Italian and Albanian history! The stories were so interesting. Talking with his family could really broaden my American outlook on the world. They treated us to yet another family meal (Rudin’s dad is a fabulous cook! He takes pictures of food at the fancy restaurants they frequent and reconstructs the dishes at home!) and then they escorted us to the train station for our trip home – surprising us with tickets on the ES train. Four days and a long thank you note later I sit here dreaming about the food!
We arrived in Milan at 10:00 pm and were met by Rudin and Andrea – Rudin Sarah had known through family friends and Andrea was one of his good guy friends. We stopped at a well known Milan late-night bakery for a bite and then met up with Rudin’s friends at the Milan movie festival (entertainment for Milanese during the famed fashion week). Around one we left for Rudin’s home – a spacious apartment on the outskirts of the center of Milan. His parent’s awaited our arrival and showed us to our room – complete with our own bathroom (with the most heavenly water pressure I’ve ever been so privileged to experience)! We plopped into the bed and luxuriously slept until 9 when we were surprised with a table full of Italian breakfast foods. Now you Southerners – Italian breakfast food is not bacon, eggs, ham, cereal, pancakes, sausage, grits, biscuits and gravy. Italian breakfast food is cookies, toast, jam, chocolates, yogurt, tea, juices, and croissants (with filling!). It was great!
Rudin and his dad planned a fabulous day for us. Rudin drove us to a small town outside of Milan proper with lovely churches, old buildings, and universities. Pavia was the first small town in Italy that we have been to that was not crawling with tourists. We enjoyed drinking fruity juices in a Pavian square overlooking a beautiful church and walked all over, drinking in the sights. We returned to Rudin’s home for a 6pm lunch, eating our fill, only to find out that we were meeting Bianca (a friend of Sarah and Rudin’s) for dinner at one of Italy’s renowned restaurants. I would describe it here, but I am planning a food review – coming soon!
Two dinners later, with protruding bellies, we sat by the channel (the local hot spot for Milanese in their 20’s) and enjoyed talking with our new friends.
Sunday morning, we awoke to yet another breakfast – sweet on our tongues, and we hit the usual tourist destinations in Milan – the street of designers, the Duomo, and numerous churches. Rudin and his dad were a veritable treasure trove of information pertaining to Italian and Albanian history! The stories were so interesting. Talking with his family could really broaden my American outlook on the world. They treated us to yet another family meal (Rudin’s dad is a fabulous cook! He takes pictures of food at the fancy restaurants they frequent and reconstructs the dishes at home!) and then they escorted us to the train station for our trip home – surprising us with tickets on the ES train. Four days and a long thank you note later I sit here dreaming about the food!
Comments
Dad
Be safe.
Love and xxx's,
Ellie
haha Jen - there were three Andrea's and one was pretty cute and very fun!